Office of the Select Board

Town of Orange, New Hampshire

Minutes of September 8, 2015

 

Present: Dorothy Heinrichs, Chair; Robert Ells, Lyell ‘Skip’ Smith, and Sandi Pierson (clerical) Others present: Beverly Ells, Bob and Sharon Proulx, Judith Lindahl, Mark Stetson, and David Como.

Meeting opened at 7:00 PM.

Minutes: The minutes of August 25, 2015 were unanimously approved as submitted.

Avitar Assessing: Mark Stetson from Avitar came before the Board with an update on the progress of the town-wide revaluation and the town’s pole licensing agreements.

  • Town-wide Revaluation: Mark stated that Avitar has concluded the field review and is ready to send notices to all property owners giving them the opportunities to view their assessments online and make appointments to discuss their new assessment with an Avitar representative. If a resident cannot make the appointment period scheduled for Orange, they can meet with Avitar in Grafton during their appointment phase. The appointment schedule duration in Orange will depend on the amount of calls received. Mark would like to be on the Board’s meeting agenda on October 13 to deliver the conclusion of the revaluation.

    Mark stated that overall property assessments may increase due to the values based on sales as opposed to building improvements. The goal is to put the town-wide assessments as close to 100% accuracy as possible. Homes, features (e.g. outbuildings), and land may change at different rates based on the analysis of the sale properties. Overall, it has been an approximate 9% increase. Judith Lindahl asked if the general assessment values take into account the higher school taxes incurred by Orange compared to other towns in the Mascoma district. Mark replied that they did not, and that values are based only on the sales history of the town as opposed to speculation.

  • Pole licensing update: Mark recommended to the Board that they update their pole licensing agreements with all utility and telecommunications companies in Orange. The town cannot levy right-of-way assessment taxes without notifying the utility or telecommunications companies that they are doing so. Mark said that not putting a pole licensing agreement in place is like “the tenant drawing up the lease for the landlord.” Mark recommended having the town’s attorney review the pole licensing resolution and updated license. It is then accepted by the Board at a public hearing. For assessing purposes, the license update should be completed by April 1, 2016.

    Sandi stated that the template documents for the public hearing notice, resolution, and revised pole license as recommended by Attorneys Mitchell and Bates were already provided to the town by Gary Roberge of Avitar at no cost. The Board agreed they should move forward with pole licensing update and directed Sandi to make copies of all documentation for the Board to review. They will then forward the documents to Attorney Waugh for his review.

Capital Reserve withdrawal: The Board signed a request to Chair Jeanne Minasian of the Trustees of the Trust Funds, requesting that they withdraw $17,000 from the Revaluation Capital Reserve Fund for the purpose of fulfilling the town-wide revaluation contract with Avitar Associates of New England.

Intent to Cut Wood or Timber: The Board reviewed and signed the following Intents:

  • Jacqueline Remington/Tuttle Hill Road/Map 4, Lot 12C (18.1 acres).

  • John Remiongton/Tuttle Hill Road/Map 4 Lots 12B & 12B-1 (28.5 acres).

Auditor recommendations: Dorothy submitted to the Board a list of accountants from the New Hampshire Municipal Officials Directory in the event that there are no appointed or elected town auditors to fulfill the municipal audits as required by the Department of Revenue Administration. The Board will draft an inquiry which Sandi will email to each accountant listed.

Wind energy legal representation: Dorothy followed up on the inquiry of how to retain revenue from 2014 to 2015 that was allocated in the municipal budget for wind energy legal representation. She stated that the encumbrance of those funds by the Board at the end of the year did not fall within the statute of encumbering funds from one year to the next. The recommendation from the DRA was for the town to vote at the 2016 town meeting to take the 2015 unused revenue allocated for wind energy legal representation (which will have lapsed into the town’s general fund) and create a capital reserve with them. Revenue could then be added to the capital reserve each year as voted on at town meetings.

Other:

  • Trash report: As of August 28, 2015 the town has disposed of 52.94 tons of trash and 20.66 tons of recyclables. Dorothy noted that in 2014 at this time, the town had disposed of 52.67 tons of trash and 18.96 tons of recyclables

  • Correspondence was reviewed from the DRA requesting that the town’s parcel map data files be sent to them by email for the statewide mosaic mapping project. Sandi stated that because the tax maps are independently maintained by Scott Sanborn, the files they are requesting is not contained within the assessing software. The office only has PDFs of Scott’s parcel files. The Board asked Sandi to forward the request to Scott.

  • FYI from the NH-DOT: schedule of public meetings for long-range transportation project meetings. The Board asked Sandi to forward the information to Road Agent Scott Sanborn.

  • FYI: Information on the availability of grants from the Community Development Finance Authority.

  • The MS-434 (Revised Estimated Revenues) as filed on the DRA web portal was reviewed.

  • The Lien Execution Report from the tax collector was reviewed. For the purpose of the Board approving Intents to Cut, Sharon stated that this can be used to determine if property taxes have been paid to date.

  • The Board was in receipt of an Approval of Septic Construction from the NH-DES for Douglas Weekes/260 Tuttle Hill Road/Map 3, Lot 21.

  • Bob Ells will install a hand railing at the staircase to the Selectmen’s office.

Secretary’s report:

  • The two recycling bins from the Town House went missing after Casella emptied them.

  • The Board approved a request for Sandi to purchase appropriately-sized trash receptacles for the kitchen and ladies rest room.

Reports from Boards and Committees:

Planning Board: Planning Board Secretary Bob Proulx requested authorization to consult with Attorney Waugh regarding scheduling a special town meeting to adopt the Large Wind Energy Systems ordinance as drafted by the Planning Board. Skip motioned to approve Bob’s request to consult with Attorney Waugh. Bob seconded. Motion passed unanimously in favor. Judith clarified that the ordinance governs facilities under 50 megawatts and would not affect the project that Energais De Portugal is presently considering. She gave the example of a number of smaller wind projects in progress in the New England area and stated that the ordinance would be important to Orange should a property owner initiate a similar wind project under 50 megawatts. She also stated that the ordinance “makes a statement” from the town to the FCC when they review wind applications.

Public comment:

 Dave Como asked if the town had the “blue trash bags” meant for roadside litter. The town does not. Dave asked if the State Highway department would pick up bags of roadside litter if they were placed on the side of the road. After discussion it was agreed Dave would contact the State highway shed on Route 118 and request they do so.

Bills and vouchers were reviewed and signed. Meeting adjourned 8:15PM

Respectfully submitted, Sandi Pierson